Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in slaughtered free-range and broiler chickens

Filipa T Rodrigues; Fernando A Moreira; Teresa Coutinho; Jitender P Dubey; Luís Cardoso; Ana Patrícia Lopes

doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2019.06.007

Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in slaughtered free-range and broiler chickens

Vet Parasitol. 2019 Jul:271:51-53. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2019.06.007. Epub 2019 Jun 11.

Authors

Filipa T Rodrigues¹, Fernando A Moreira², Teresa Coutinho³, Jitender P Dubey⁴, Luís Cardoso⁵, Ana Patrícia Lopes¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Sciences, School of Agrarian and Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal; Animal and Veterinary Research Centre (CECAV), UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal.
² Department of Veterinary Clinics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto (UP), Porto, Portugal; Animal Science and Study Center (CECA), Food and Agrarian Sciences and Technologies Institute (ICETA), UP, Porto, Portugal.
³ Department of Veterinary Sciences, School of Agrarian and Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal.
⁴ Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Centre, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Veterinary Sciences, School of Agrarian and Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal; Animal and Veterinary Research Centre (CECAV), UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal. Electronic address: lcarcdoso@utad.pt.

PMID: 31303203
DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2019.06.007

Abstract

The consumption of undercooked infected chicken can be a source of infection for humans and carnivores regarding the zoonotic protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Furthermore, free-range chickens are sentinels for the presence of T. gondii oocysts in the environment because they feed from the ground. By using the modified agglutination test (MAT), we investigated the presence of antibodies to T. gondii in 178 free-range and 170 broiler chickens raised indoors and slaughtered in Portugal. Prevalence of specific antibodies was 5.6% in free-range and 0.0% in broiler chickens raised indoors (p = 0.002).

Keywords: Modified agglutination test; Portugal; Poultry; Serology; Zoonosis.

MeSH terms

Animal Husbandry
Animals
Antibodies, Protozoan / blood*
Chickens*
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Toxoplasma / immunology*
Toxoplasmosis, Animal / blood*
Toxoplasmosis, Animal / epidemiology*

Substances

Antibodies, Protozoan